‘Sabres center Jochen Hecht (upper body) and defenseman Jaroslav Spacek (hip) returned Friday night against Montreal after missing two games. Montreal forward Georges Laraque also was back in the lineup after missing 18 games because of a back injury.’

‘“I’m not really surprised because that’s the pace he was kind of on when he was playing,” Head Coach Lindy Ruff said. “It’s been tough. He’s gone through a lot. But it’s in the past. Hopefully that’s the extent of it and he can keep playing. He’s a good player for us when he’s healthy.”’

‘“It makes things easy when the puck’s going in and you’re winning,” Stafford said as the cliches flowed. “I just hope that I keep trying to get chances, get a little bit lucky, keep trying to get some breaks, and hopefully they go in.”’

‘So if you ask me, this is the perfect time to trade him. I understand the fascination with Connolly. He’s the ultimate tease. But he has played in only 68 of 216 regular-season games since signing a three-year, $8.7 million contract before the 2006-07 season. He makes the Sabres better, but he also could be one jarring hit from retirement.’

‘“It’s still a little bit sore and will be sore for a while, but it’s not as bad as it was before,” said Spacek, who was injured when he leveled Enver Lisin and the Coyote forward’s stick broke across Spacek’s hip.’

‘”It was a pretty minor benching,” Ruff said. “I think he played 16 minutes (actually he played 16:37 total in the game), so it’s a couple shifts. Benchings are a little more severe, so it was just a message that things hadn’t gone good enough.”‘